[Closed] Rain, rain, rain- Kielder 100

Good job Jeff is on a SS then 🙂

Hurrah, glad I gave it a miss this year

Crumbs, radar shows rainfall all day so far! Hats of to the real men and women!!

Cutgate, Whinstone Lee Tor, Crook Hill, Hagg Side and Lockerbrook were lovely this morning (wimp)!!

SteveBbrain - Member
Hurrah, glad I gave it a miss this year

+ 1 🙂

Started with new pads, used another 3 pairs and bailed at 62 miles when I needed a 4th pair; winner at 8 hours 22 and first single speeder at 9 hours 40

4 pads? Crikey! Why do the pads get eaten so quickly? Worse in rain?

bailed a few miles after the first feed zone, proper minging

Has anyone heard how Matt Jones is doing with his Killer Kielder - Kielder 100 followed by 5m Kayak and then 26m run.

I was loving it up until my knee died.

Love grim conditions.

Adds to the epic-ness

Plus others seem to suffer more in them than me 🙂

4 pads? Crikey! Why do the pads get eaten so quickly? Worse in rain?

Kielder trails, and fire roads are mainly sandstone and when its wet your bike gets covered in a grinding paste. Its a bike killer...

Kielder trails, and fire roads are mainly sandstone and when its wet your bike gets covered in a grinding paste. Its a bike killer...

That would explain why I've got fine dust all over my bike from my last kielder visit. Aha!

Turned up to support some mates and ended up manning a "tech" station @ the 23 mile marker,it was grim and had to change a fair few brake pads and ran out of lube! sorry but no amount of lube would have stayed on in that paste!!
It was grim for everyone including the marshalls and the forestry com guys/girls.
I will be surprised if a 100 finished 😯
I bailed the campsite this afternoon and I was in a van!!!!!!

Still a great event and will be back next year!

4 pads after 62 miles ?

does not compute.

was offered a free entry and camping by a mate who couldnt make it. So glad I declined .
Swinley / Gorrick 100 eats pads even faster. A set every 10 mile lap was used by some , with the finishers using their pistons as pads.

Actually the winner came in at 8.02 but was a bit slower getting his dibber back.

Truly epic conditions. Everyone had mechanicals or at least brake pads. My non drive crank fell off - thanks postie for tightening it!

I think 160 finished - 75% attrition. Those winners, including twinklydave, they're machines.

Got round in 11:02, fair to say it was hard work. Riding through rivers and sludge the whole way, not a barrel of laughs to be honest and wetter than the first one.
Did it all on 1 set of pads, Clarks sintered ones which cost me £7 a set 🙂

So glad I didn't do it this year, try sintered pads next time

Woo i thought the winning time would have been over 8.30 because of the wet. Who were the top three does anyone know?

How did the course compare to the last two years? Apart from the wetness..

Hmmm, yep, that was definitely emotional.

I got round, but not sure of the time but not record breaking by any means.

I had no back brake at all for the last 100km as the lever just went to the bar despite putting new pads in. Yhe front went again with 40km to so ended up having to run the steeper downhills.

That was some attrition rate.

Very good effort to everybody who survived.

Full marks to everyone who finished. Or even put in a decent distance! I'd have spat the dummy.

Don't know how Matt got on - hope he's OK. Looked a bit tired at 78miles. Some effort.

Results are up already! looks like 177 finishers. There were 800 on the start list according to the briefing so under 15% finished 8O. I finished in 12.5hours (last year I was 11h15 and I felt fitter this time). My bike is ****ed. I had no brakes for the last ten miles having used up all my spare pads. My drivechain is shot as I was getting serious chainsuck so was limited to the granny and big ring for most of the race.

Really impressed by my riding partner who's pedal fell off at about 30 miles (crank brothers :?) but he continued until we lost the body of it in the river just before Newcastleton. For those that passed us we were the two wading in the bog looking for it!) We parted company on the basis he was never going to finish and pull out at Newcastleton. Anyway 13h 14 minutes [i]finish[/i] time for him with about 40 miles on nothing but a pedal axle! He just kept going inside the cut offs by a matter of minutes.

I've done it twice, this time was sooo much harder and probably the last.

MTBMonkey - Member

So glad I didn't do it this year, try sintered pads next time

Same story here as others. Lost the use of granny ring for most of the race. No back brake for last 50 miles, both brakes totally went at about mile 97 and had to walk last 3 miles, including what looked like the best of the trails! Freezing for whole race despite wearing gilet and jacket.

Well done to the chap who rode a pedal axle - that's determination! 🙂

Anyway 13h 14 minutes finish time for him with about 40 miles on nothing but a pedal axle!

Legend!!!!

MASSIVE respect to those folks that finished. I had to chuck it at the 60-mile Newcastleton stop. Had already used 2 new set of brake pads and was down to metal again and had 10 minutes before the cut-off time kicked in but didn't have the time to get pads fitted by the Tech Station guys to get me on my way again. Having said that, I didn't need much persuasion to chuck it - the conditions were thoroughly miserable all day.

Will I be back next year for another crack? Hmmmmmm...... 😐

Anyway 13h 14 minutes finish time for him with about 40 miles on nothing but a pedal axle

That's determination in the extreme. Respect.

Missed the 78mile cut off. It was epic to say the least chapeau to all the finishers. My bloody bento box has eaten the paint off my frame lol.

F*** me that was hard. Didn't enjoy the first half, then as I was changing pads at the 50mile feed station, the marshall said that loads of people were bailing out, so it gave me more determination to carry on. 2nd set of pads died at about 70 miles, then for the last 10 miles, the back brake didn't work, and the front lever just went to the bars, so had to run all the downhills. It seemed a bit wrong getting back on the bike to pedal up hill!

I was expecting the last 5 miles to be about 8 miles, so I was so happy when the "1 mile to go" sign appeared on the final descent. And the girls at the last Checkpoint weren't fibbing when they said it was all downhill from here (unlike last year!!).

Epic event, well done to all the finishers, and an 8 hour finishing time is truly fantastic.

well done for finishing

I was changing pads at the 50mile feed station, the marshall said that loads of people were bailing out, so it gave me more determination to carry on. 2nd set of pads died at about 70 miles, then for the last 10 miles

do you bed in your spares that you carry? I do so before the go in the spares bag to try and prevent this

Does anyone have the link to the results, can't find them anywhere at the moment.

Big thanks to race organisers and marshals who stood out in the rain as this took a lot of prep to put on.
Finished 5 mins slower than last year dispite training harder for it, no brakes for most of it used the trees and boggy bits to slow down stuck in the middle ring for most of the way.
Just going to wash the bike and see what damage has been done to it 😥
well done to who finished

Well Done to everyone who even started never mind finished.

Heres the results link..

http://results.sportident.co.uk/home/event.html?eventid=0c2c234a-1365-4b8f-ab1b-1365b25cb9b0

Well Done to everyone who even started never mind finished.

Plus 1

RESPECT is due i think!

I see the chap doing the killer kielder finished but he do the kayack and marathon?

Only 177 finishers compared to 350 last year!

Looked like a stronger field up the front too.

For Sale:

4 pairs of Avid Elixir Brake pads. Used for less than 50 miles light xc use only.

£7.50 per pair posted.

[IMG] [/IMG]

I made the first cut off this year with 30 mins to spare but retired like a lot of others due to running out of spare pads

oh well

'

I missed the first checkpoint by 7 minutes :(. Really enjoyed of what I did of it. Also enjoyed the cheery people I met along the way. I will be back next year

I wonder how many people will have a pile of pads like that ^^

eBay will be flooded 🙂

That was me on the pedal axle. I never expected to make the cuts, given I lost the entire pedal at mile 56 in a bog (it blew up at mile 12, but was able to keep it on the spindle until then). Made it with two minutes for the final cut, not sure if I was happy about this or not! This and no brakes from mile 80 made for interesting times...

A big thanks to all the organizers, and to all the supportive riders out there that carried me home!

And from Matt Jones who did the Killer Kielder, he just posted on FB:

100miles mtb 5miles kayak 26miles run 18hours 15mins

congrats Matt!

well done budge thats a fine effort man i reckon i would have sacked it if i only had an axle to turn. respect dude.

Hello all,

Well I did it, as thebudge says 18hours 15 mins in total for Killer Kielder. Finished just before 1am.

Can't say thanks enough to all your guys I spoke to on the day, really helped push me along.

If you think its worth a few quid for a brilliant charity, my just giving link is www.justgiving.com/killerkielderchallenge when you see the pics of me at the finish line you'll get a sense of how hard it was!

Was expecting the ride to be one of the easiest bits but hardest ride I've ever done, respect to all the finishers. That finishers t-shirt will be a collectors item!

Sat down now having my 2nd beer in 6 months (first at 1am last night) the bbq is about to be fired up, good times...

Matt

www.killerkielder.co.uk

Won't be doing that again if there is any hint of any cloud in the sky
2 sets of pads and a knackered rear brake meant I spent half an hour famnying about with the rear brake
Couldn't put in granny at all because if I did the dreaded chain suck kicked in
Missed the 51m cut of by 1 minute and was sort of glad really
Felt for the girl who made the cut off by 7 minutes but was directed the wrong way. She was not happy
In the end I drove home and went to the pub

Missed the 51 mile cut-off, having lost time repairing an increasingly unhappy chain.

Sigh. A 9 speed chain on an SS drive train seemed like a fine idea in the warm and the dry of Summer, but in the face of all that grit it just slowly disintegrated..

Picked up a new chain at the 32 mile checkpoint which was a thing of agricultural beauty, and then pedalled as fast as I could, getting to the 50 mile checkpoint at 1:25pm, and the 51 mile cut-off at 1:35pm.

But I'm not sure I would have got much further anyway - my rear brakes were just about still slowing me down, but I destroyed a new pair on the front in a matter of minutes.

Great course (at least the first 51 miles) with much more singletrack than last year, and all that lovely warm gentle rain, splashing delightfully up into my eyes.

Sorry to say though that I'm probably going to have to try again next year!

EDIT: The people I spoke to who finished it all uniformly looked shattered. Faces caked with mud and grit, with just lips and eyes still visible; clothes caked in mud and grit; bikes looking like relics from the Somme. And a vacant stare of great suffering endured. Great day out!

My 3 month old tramce x2 looks about 90 now 😀 it needs some plasters.

Dead pads by the Newcastleton cut-off for me, had to walk the hidden valley descent. Fire road braking was done via shoe on front wheel.

Started to lose rear shifting at 50 miles, gave up completely just after 60. Front wouldn't shift down to granny either.

Came in 13h25m.

Failed last year, so to do it this year in much worse conditions feels awesome!

Shopping list so far - Pads, chain, jockey wheels, 2 pistons, rear shifter, possibly front shifter too.

Wow that was an epic!

I was the last person through the final checkpoint and amazed to have finished. So much slower than last year and I was expecting to be faster.

I suppose I'll have to go back next year!

Need to try this event, just for the sadism of it all!

Crank brothers pedals are ar*e i went through 2 sets of eggbeaters in a year (including 1 set of £220 2Ti's) with pedal bodies/wings wearing out and mechanisms becoming so sloppy you couldn't pull on the cleat.

I've gone full circle now and am back on SPD 540's (£30)!

I would have been screwed out there today, my SLX calipers have split pins retaining the pads. Need a stout pair of pliers to change them! Can you buy 'proper' retaining pins for them?

Glad to read most folk were slower than they hoped. I finished just shy of 12 hours, which I was disappointed with, then saw the dnf ratio. minimal training meant I was weak on the ups, but got plenty overtaking in on the descents - only wore one set of pads.
Respect to finishers on SS - though no shifting/chainsuck issues for them I guess.

Miketually? Finish, or still out there?

I bailed at 30 miles :cry:, I was ****ed, just cound'nt get going, started to feel cold cos I was that wet, body and mind just give up. 10 of us stayed at some lodges up the road and typically this morning It was blue sky so because I was so bisapointed with myself I went for a ride around kielder lake to make up for it a bit.

I've just finished checking my bike to see what work needs doing.

New jockey wheels - no teeth on any of them
new cables
new pads 😉
brake overhall including new pistons*
New rotors*
new chainrings
new chain
new casette
new bearings for hope rear hub

so expensive race

*apparently I went through my pads, the backing plate and was using the pistons to stop so have ground them down ruining the pistons and rotors.

all my pads were sintered and brand new except for me having gone to the effort of fitting them, burning them in on the road in the dry and them removing them to keep as spares for the race.

@squiff - that was me exactly last year! stayed in lodge, bailed by first cut-off and lap of the lake to enjoy something.

@jonba - I'm planning on just seeing what my rotors are like with new pads. I have chamfered pistons in the back brake.

I was 15 mins late for the 78 mile cut off, some the that mud round Newcastleton was madness. Definetly much tougher than last year.

Stupid BB30 bottom bracket on my brand new race bike seized at 50 miles. I carried on riding it to destruction untill Newcastleton hoping that the Tech Zone would have a spare. Unfortunately no spare, so game over.

Gutted as I was enjoying the epic conditions and made it Newcastleton before 1pm so had plenty of time in hand for them to fix it.

I'll be back next year, unfinished business.

Much respect here for everyone who started. I'm sitting here smugly having correctly predicted the weather after finishing last year (it's not possible to have two dry years in a row) so looks like I'll be entering next year.

Glad so many still enjoyed despite the truly awful conditions, anyone who rode that deserves respect and to the 177 out of the 600 or so that started you really are something. To keep enthusiasm to ride on in mud, rain and the cold takes something to finish.

Ben Thomas did just fantastic just minutes off last years winner in what was perfect conditions then, that is unbelievable.

So many tired looking faces, of what I could see through the mud packs, but so many smiles still. Mechanicals was the biggest reason for DNFs by far. Pads being the main culprit even those that had sintered and yes those that thoight bedding in would have helped in the horrible mud. Sounds of grinding BB, chains crunching and a snapped frame from last year winner, he still came 7th IIRC, it took it's toll.

Well done all hope to see you back next year.

Ben was really strong yesterday. I basically cracked myself by keeping with him & Giles until Newcastleton. Then my bike started to fall apart so it was just a case of surviving until the end while bodging it together every few miles.

I was 50 minutes slower than last year on a shorter course. It was hard going.

Yeah feed back we were getting as that lead 3 were close through out, sterling efforts.

And I was wanting to do this event.. So glad I didnt make the 8hr drive 🙂

Congrats to those that rode it! Maybe next year, but if its raining, think I'll stay at home!

I bailed at about 33 miles. Physically felt fine, mentally had enough. More than enough. 8 hours for the winner in those conditions is awe inspiring. Chapeau.

After seeing so many broken chains and drivetrains, singlespeed was definitely the right way to go. Even if some of the gloopy, draggy climbs were horrible.

Great, great event. The marshalls were brilliant, even though they were out in the same conditions as the rest of us.

Well done all.

:o)

Congrats to those that rode it! Maybe next year, but if its raining, think I'll stay at home!

Nah! It's a great event regardless.

Ooops and yes Marshalls deserve a big up too to put up with that.

And for those who care, there was only 10.4mm of rain at the castle. 😯

Which isn't that much.

Lee, teh moor out to Bloody bush pillar collects a hell of a lot of water, and drains down either to Newcastleton or Kielder one way or another. Thats why they built the reservoir there.
What happened to Geda? I spent 45 minutes making his brake pads fit! 😯

I spent 45 minutes making his brake pads fit!

Timed out?

Miketually? Finish, or still out there?

Missed the 51 mile cut off by a couple of minutes.

I can do K100 in good weather on naff all riding. Not in that.

I rinsed my riding kit in a bucket before it went in the washer. After I tipped the water out, there was a good 1/2 inch of silt in the bottom of the bucket!

Next year...

My little report.

race started pretty good and after only 4or 5 miles a group of about 15 of us formed of the front. As miles went by the group slowly whittled down to about 8 of us. During these early few miles the hardest part was staying on someones wheel on the fast parts as the mud made it horrendous to see in front of you( i also got bells palsy a few weeks ago so couldn't actually blink my left eye which made it even worse getting dirt out-thats my excuse 🙂 ). By the 1st food drop our group has went down to just 6 of us and the pace was comfortable, nothing electric but easy enough to stick together. 4 miles later my race fell apart when i punctured at the bottom of a hill and i took ages to fix. i actually thought my only tube was split so was cursing away until i realised it wasn't. By time i had fixed it i was about 13th or 14th but with no one around had lost my pace. Over next few hours i caught and overtook a few people and finally reached Newcastleton food stop lying about 9th. Took a wrong turn and eneded up doing that swoopy grassy section twice (oops) and then the climb through the trees killed me.By time i completed newcastleton trail centre i was feeling good again so upped my pace and caught someone else. We rode together for about 16 miles where i passed mr cockburn who altho had mechanicalled was still suprisingly cheery. Just before final climb i dropped the guy i was riding with. Finished in 7th which was a good result although should of been better if i had not punctured. Well done to everyone who entered and bigger well done to those who finished and also marshalls and organisers.

To those who finished above me, especially Ben, amazing job and fast in those conditions.

Next year..........maybe i'll do it for the 4th time 🙂

Ben Thomas, winner of the Montane Kielder 100 MTB Marathon

Roo - I timed out about the same as you. Would have made it but I had a puncture just after the bridge into England.

It's been glorious today though - rode out to Bellingham the hilly way and back with my son 🙂

Well, last year I missed the first cut by about 18 minutes. This year the mission was to make the first cut, I didn't. I missed it by just under 9! I would have happily carried on if I had hit it but wan't going to argue with them, having used my spare pads and lost rear braking, lost my granny ring to chain suck about 15 miles in and was pretty knackered.
Did find one bonus in riding in glasses (really short sighted rather than riding specs). I didn't properly clean them until after the first cut off and only then realised how hard it was raining when I could see it, just thought it was spray until then 🙂

Just hosed off the bike, which was really easy seeing as it was just silt/grit/the stuff they put in T-Cut to be abrasive and not much actual damage. Rotor survived pad loss at the rear, chain rings and cassette looking ok-ish but due a change soon anyway, chain needed changing soon anyway so that is fine but my main worry was my brand new (7 miles old) jockey wheels... They are fine! So KNC, I am already sold.
Waited for my mate who came in around 12 hours and spent some time chatting to some of the finishers, everyone had a tale, it was amazing to see the range of emotions from relief to delight, pride to annoyance and a good set of completely blank expressions.
Everyone who finished was, as has been said, bloody awesome but after a chat with thebudge he gets my vote as hero of the day. I only did the last few miles of the Mary Townley loop with a Crank Brothers Candy spindle to peddle on, going that far, in those conditions... Just amazing.

As for next year...

Sure Ben will be back - he wanted to go sub-7!

Well done to all, looks grim!

I must have spoken to quite a few of you out on the track, nothing seems so crazy when you are pedaling up a gentle slope in granny gear, or overtaking someone over the period of about 4 minutes only to fall off your bike on normally 'easy' terrain, with brake levers that go right to the bars and do absolutely nothing. I am proud to say I made the first cut-off by 20 seconds, but no way was I going over to Newcastleton as the last person after that.

I heard about that missing pedal in the mud. That wasn't an eggbeater by any chance? I lost mine years ago doing the Jedburgh Justice trail.

Radoggair

Well done fella,that was some effort.
Only heard about your eye condition the other day.
Hope it's improving.
I ran out of brakes just before the Newcastleton check .
Gutted, as I was bang on the times I wanted and feeling pretty good.
Ah well. 🙄

Sure Ben will be back - he wanted to go sub-7!

I can honestly say no one will ever go sub 7 hours, no matter who it is. I think the best we will see is around 7.5hrs.

Its not just the climbing involved but the terrain is so hard to keep a constant pace with all the rocks, holes etc on the trail

Surely the course changes though - Andy was 50 minutes slower as he said, wouldn't need to take all that much out of his time. Certainly be a very special ride though!

Radoggair, I'm with you. 7.5hrs seems achievable, perhaps less. TO go closer to 7hrs, I think it would take one of the worlds top XC riders who do Marathons too. And there's nothing there to really attract them ie Coverage, UCI points or prize money.

Well done for getting through yesterday.

Smiker

There's £1000 prize apparently!

Just to add my bit, was pretty suprised to be well up at the first cut-off and just kept plodding on - finished just under 12 hours. Was a long old day! I didn't have the brake pad problems that most had - as I was on v-brakes they were just next to useless throughout and I was really struggling on the downhill singletrack bits. This was my first ever race so just really, really chuffed to have finished!